LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas Department of Health Director Paul Halverson is leaving to take a job in Indiana.

Gov. Mike Beebe’s office on Friday announced Halverson was leaving to become founding dean of the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis — also known as IUPUI.

Halverson’s last day at the Arkansas Health Department will be May 5. Halverson was named the department’s director by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2005.

Beebe praised Halverson for his work on a smoking ban that lawmakers approved in 2006 and in establishing a statewide trauma system.

Nathaniel Smith, currently the Deputy Director for Public Health Programs, will serve as Interim Director after Halverson’s departure.